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Exterminating Angels (Les Anges Exterminateurs)

Exterminating Angels (Les Anges Exterminateurs) (2006)

tomatometer

48

Average Rating: 5.5/10
Reviews Counted: 44
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 23

Explicit and shocking, but there is no substance or statement on human behavior underneath the taboo-breaking.

53

Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 8

Explicit and shocking, but there is no substance or statement on human behavior underneath the taboo-breaking.

audience

33

liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 2,491

My Rating

Movie Info

A filmmaker seeks out actresses who aren't afraid to explore their sexuality for a film about female pleasure and transgressing taboos in director Jean-Claude Brisseau's semi-surreal fantasy drama. François (Frédéric Van Den Dreiessche) is a fiftysomething filmmaker who longs to achieve something truly great in the realm of cinema. In the aftermath of a spectral midnight visit from his beloved but deceased grandmother -- who offers the perplexed filmmaker a baffling warning from beyond the grave

Jul 24, 2007

IFC First Take

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All Critics (44) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (24) | DVD (4)

Endless auditions get the annoying Francois nowhere closer to grasping what turns women on.

May 11, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Critics I admire have assured me that many of Brisseau's earlier films are less silly, more interesting, and even commendable.

May 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The content may be dubious, but the execution is hypnotic.

May 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Gorgeous French silliness, yes, featuring stunning women having languorous, artful sex with each other. What was I saying? Oh yes, the silliness. Artful, gorgeous, sexy, sure, but ridiculous nonetheless.

May 4, 2007 Full Review Source: Denver Post
Denver Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[Director] Brisseau calculatedly offsets the silliness of the surreal elements and the earnestness applied to the sex by savoring the overall absurdity.

April 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mr. Brisseau honors the infinitely varying psyches of his female subjects. One may scoff at his voyeuristic self-indulgence, but when you come right down to it, isn't that what the cinema is all about, one way or another?

March 21, 2007
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A complex, confessional examination of [Jean-Claude Brisseau's] twisted, thorny and ultimately ambiguous feelings toward women and sex.

December 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness
Lessons of Darkness

Mix one part David Lynch, a few unhealthy jiggers of Zalmon King, a quart of the typical French film flesh peddling, and a decidedly asexual approach to softcore, and you'd get just a small portion of the preposterous self-righteous smut stupidity that is

August 18, 2007 Full Review Source: DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict

... the film is passably entertaining but dramatically inert.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Murphy's Movie Reviews
Murphy's Movie Reviews

Masturbation as method acting!

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: EURWeb
EURWeb

The cinematic equivalent of getting drenched with a splash of ice water.

June 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

It lacks any introspection to illuminate the erotic subject matter.

May 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Film Threat

It's not smart enough to actually pull off what it purports to do, and it's not free enough to simply enjoy itself.

May 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

Little more than Lesbians Lesbians Lesbians.

May 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Metromix.com
Metromix.com

It's hard to tell if Brisseau is a raging misogynist or a radical feminist, and what makes the movie interesting is that he's probably a little bit of both.

April 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Las Vegas Weekly
Las Vegas Weekly

... plenty of heat, not all that much light.

April 12, 2007

A sexually-charged, eyebrow-raising thriller that often straddles that fine line between erotic thriller and all-out pornography.

March 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Zertinet Movies
Zertinet Movies

If the movie was meant to render sympathy to Brisseau, it only reinforces how monstrously repugnant he is. The audacity to suggest his complete innocence makes the whole thing seem like black comedy, only the core sentiment is not funny.

March 12, 2007 Full Review Source: culturevulture.net
culturevulture.net

A venture into the world of lust and love scripted with the beauty and discipline of Greek tragedy. As enthralling as it is disturbing. A must see for those who can tolerate the explicit sex.

March 11, 2007 | Comment (1)
Monsters and Critics

Audience Reviews for Exterminating Angels (Les Anges Exterminateurs)

[font=Century Gothic]In "Exterminating Angels", a film director, Francois(Frederic van den Driessche), decides that following an actress' bad experience involving a sex scene on his previous film, that he will make his next about female sexuality. Since there are sex scenes involved, his screen test will involve two parts, the first of which involves an actress masturbating on camera, but he has a hard time getting any woman to participate until he meets Julie(Lise Bellynck) in a neighborhood bar.[/font]
[font=Century Gothic][/font]
[font=Century Gothic][/font]
[font=Century Gothic]"Exterminating Angels" is a seuxally explicit and thought-provoking movie that is not about sex per se. In reality, it is about no matter how casual or temporary a relationship is, be it a one night stand or making a film, there is always going to be a residual emotional connection. And sometimes people cannot help being hurt.[/font]
[font=Century Gothic][/font]
[font=Century Gothic]However clear-sighted director Jean-Claude Brisseau may be about other facets of his movie, the character of the director still leaves something to be desired. Francois is staightforward and gentlemanly towards the actresses and complimented by them for being a good listener but if his sole purpose was to learn about female sexuality, then why not just hand his wife a 20-page questionnaire or simply listen to her?[/font]
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[font=Century Gothic]The angels and dead grandmother almost push the movie into David Lynch and Wim Wenders territory. They were not necessary and even a little pretentious.[/font]
March 11, 2007
Harlequin68
Walter M.

Super Reviewer

This is yet another French film that uses explicit sexuality to push the envelope of what is considered taboo and what is acceptable in mainstream cinema.

A director is watched over by fallen angels who seem intent on sending him on a self-destructive path, influencing him towards more and more explicit material for his new film project.

Worth a rental if you don't mind the overt sexuality, but has some pretentious moments for sure.
April 25, 2008
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Foreign Titles

  • Les anges exterminateurs (FR)
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